Skating
by Qiana King
Summary: Khamsin and Kazumi go skating on a date. He really should have thought this through . . . a fluffy Khami one-shot.


**AN:** AAAAAAND I'M BACK! So the one-shot I'm working on has turned on me and become a monster . . . (sweat-drop). It's trying to be multi-chapter, but I'm resisting. This is just some fluff to tide you over.

It's not my best work.

Some things may seem OOC. That's because I've been away from these characters for a while, but tried to hint at character development—I always thought these two would take a while to get together, leaving a lot of time open to your interpretation.

. . .

What are you waiting for!?

Oh, right. That thing.

* * *

 **Disclaimer: these characters and Shakugan no Shana are not mine.**

There, now go read.

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The lights flashed, the music blared, and the rink wasn't crowded. A brown-haired girl was leading a purple-eyed boy to the roller-skate booth, their hands linked and fingers interlaced.

"It's like flying," she was saying.

"Ah, I thought you said swimming was the closest?" he replied.

"It is the closest, but this is near. Swimming captures the movement and weightlessness. But this captures the wind."

"Ah, you and your wind," he teased, though she was the only one to catch his amusement.

"Yes, me and my wind. We get teased a bit about being too cute." She blushed as she said this, knowing full well the other meaning.

He stopped suddenly, which caused her to turn, and he stood on his tip-toes to kiss her. His straw hat bumped her forehead a moment before their lips met.

"Ah, maybe they're right," he murmured as he pulled back. "At least one of us is pretty cute."

His girlfriend blushed.

 _"Hmm, and good with language puns,"_ said another voice. _"Khamsin, what they call the wind that blows across northern Africa and the Middle East."_

Khamsin's right eyebrow twitched. "Ah, and literally 'fifty' in Arabic, which stands for fifty gems on a mobile chaperone."

Kazumi tried not to smile, but he caught it and smiled slightly in return.

"Ah, Kazumi, you look happy."

She let herself smile softly. "I am."

"Ah," he responded. There was warm silence for a moment, and then he leaned up . . .

 _"Hmm . . ."_ came the sound from his wrist.

Khamsin closed his eyes and pulled back reluctantly. "Ah, and there he goes."

Kazumi giggled, even as she turned red.

 _"Hmm, you were doing something?"_ his contractor reminded them.

Kazumi nodded and said "Ah, the skates!"

Khamsin started as she turned away. Even though it wasn't the first time she'd used the prefix in such a manner, he still found himself adjusting his straw hat to hide a blush.

They closed the remaining distance between them and the shoe booth, and picked the skates up easily enough.

When Kazumi looked up from fitting into her shoes, the first thing she noticed was that Khamsin had taken off his straw hat. She didn't have time to frown, however, as the second thing she noticed was that his legs were wobbly; and it wasn't because the skates didn't fit. It actually made her smile to know he treasured her gift from so long ago.

Third, he was keeping two hands on the wall and—of all the things—looking at the floor of the skating rink warily.

She stood and skated to him in ease.

"Khamsin!" Her boyfriend hesitated a moment before he looked up. "I take it it's not going well?" she smiled gently.

"Ah, well, I've never had much coordination; the only thing I could ever aim was a . . ." he paused. "You don't have a word for it. Throwing stick."

She nodded and reached out to him. He immediately let go of the wall with one hand, then the other, and took the hands offered.

She gently pulled him to her, and he quickly found a way to straighten his feet. Then, very slowly, she guided him to the rink. He was still eyeing it like it was a boa constrictor when she stepped on and gently pulled him after her. She quickly showed him how to break, and then began to slowly skate backwards.

Their hands joined, Khamsin followed Kazumi.

He slipped often. He was more than three thousand years old, and used to failure, especially when it came to coordination. He was sure he could handle it fine.

But what he didn't realize was that this was Kazumi. And just because that's who she was, she was feeling bad for him. He was making his girlfriend feel bad by his own incompetence. And that was why his cheeks were slightly heating and his answers were slowly shortening.

Of course she sensed it.

"You're doing really well!" she encouraged him, and he flushed harder. It wasn't true.

"Y-you know, the first time I went skating was horrible,"she said, and he looked up. Not in surprise, simply interest. "I, umm, I was about eight. And I was so terrified . . ." she was blushing heavily now. "Ah, I kept th-thinking I would die. But whenever they would put me on the side, I-I'd see this couple. And they were really cute. And I wanted to be that couple s-someday. So I'd get up again. And it got the point that d-dad got really frustrated . . ." she laughed nervously. "A-anyway, it was just really bad."

He had the feeling there was more to the story, but there wasn't any reason to push. He did actually feel better, knowing that it was understanding rather than pity.

He wanted to convey his gratitude, so he spread their arms to get closer and kissed her cheek.

"Ah, I love you," he whispered, softly enough Behemoth couldn't hear it. Then he had to fall back before he fell over.

The beaming face he was greeted with was more than enough payment for when, a few second later, he outright tripped.


End file.
